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ARTICLE · 29 JUNE 2009

Trade Mark Owners Not Happy As Facebook Introduces Personalised URLs

Swaab Attorneys
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If you thought you had your suite of domain names protected, think again.

AustraliaIntellectual Property
Swaab Author
Swaab Author
Tyrilly Bolton
Tyrilly Bolton
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If you thought you had your suite of domain names protected, think again.

Facebook is now allowing users to create a personalised URL based on a unique username. The personalised URL lets Facebook users find your Facebook page by using the URL http://www.facebook.com/username . With an audience of over 200 million active Facebook users, trade mark owners are legitimately concerned about controlling their Facebook presence.

Trade mark owners were given only 3 days last week to contact Facebook if they wanted to reserve or protect their trade marks from being claimed as usernames. That process is now closed.

Naturally, this raises concerns from a brand protection strategy perspective as Facebook users have the capability to register trade marks as their usernames. For example, under the new scheme, a user can register http://www.facebook.com/nike or http://www.facebook.com/cocacola.

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